Two years on, significant progress has been made in the global response to COVID-19. Successful vaccination campaigns and adaptation measures have helped transform a deadly pandemic into a much more manageable health crisis, allowing countries worldwide to begin seeing the light at the end of this dark tunnel. It is at this point in the evolution of the pandemic that humanitarians are encouraged to examine the wealth of knowledge produced throughout this unprecedented crisis — to entrench good practices, learn from missteps, and help communities build greater resilience to future health emergencies.

This Knowledge Series guide offers a retrospective overview of the approaches taken by UNFPA-supported teams in humanitarian settings throughout the Arab Region. In addition to providing updates and lessons learned from some of the initiatives reported in 2020, the guide also brings a series of insights from new programmes and adaptations introduced since. Together, these provide a framework for effective, gender-responsive action during a health crisis, even in the most complex humanitarian environments.